Columnists

A recent survey provided an interesting insight into what motivates today's homebuyers. The buyer's initial feeling about the home, or the gut reaction, motivates the decision more than the home's size, price or investment potential.

DEAR BENNY: In a recent Q-and-A, you wrote that a security deposit is not rent, and, thus, if the tenant moved out without paying the last month’s rent, the property manager is not entitled to a commission on that money. ...

Dear Mr. Berko: My IRA has performed poorly this year and last year. I own some of the supposedly better mutual funds, and for the past two years my $88,000 account has only increased in value to $101,000. This is ...

Dear Mr. Berko: I’m a teacher in Pennsylvania and need your help in selecting a good international mutual fund with TIAA-CREF. The two funds I’m looking at are TIAA-CREF Institutional International and Nuveen Tradewinds Global. The TIAA fund has an ...

DEAR BENNY: My mother is 75, widowed and in reasonably good health with the attendant financial issues of living on a fixed income. She lives in Michigan and I am in North Carolina. My sister, age 54, lives with her ...

DEAR BENNY: I am 57 years old and have a mortgage remaining on my house of $45,800 at 4.875 percent interest and a home equity loan of $41,000 with a variable rate. The assessed value of the home is $250,000. ...

Dear Mr. Berko: My broker of 14 years is leaving Merrill Lynch with two other brokers from another firm to form their own management business, and they will use Charles Schwab to send statements and accept their orders. My broker ...

The Federal Housing Finance Agency recently released its final rule regarding private transfer fees. The agency received about 4,200 comments in response to its proposed guidance and is now issuing a rule that restricts Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the ...

The rental market is the strongest growth element in today’s real estate activity. And, strange as it seems, the growth of rentals might be a major factor in pushing up home sales in future months. The growing demand for residential ...